George's retirement party

I made it into work yesterday. That was a mistake. Well, not a mistake, really. There was a retirement party for one of the guys, 35 years as a firefighter. So I really wanted to make it in to see him off. That was accomplished. But it took a toll on me. Yesterday was my last of 5 prednisone days, which "theoretically" gives me energy. But perhaps I don't react to prednisone the way everyone else does. I woke up at 5:30 and felt ok, so made my way to work for 7:00. So far so good. Went through the morning routine (it was a Sunday and our last day of a four-day tour of duty, so there wasn't much to do). Then we had a call, electrical fire at a house just around the corner.

There were five of us on the truck, I was hydrant man. There's usually just four of us at Station 3, but the Platoon Chief is covering for me a little by having five of us there. Anyway, we all scrambled into our gear. I was trying to find a way to get my mask, flash hood, and helmet on over my velcro hair. (My hair is playing tricks on me, it's falling out and growing back in at the same time, so having anything on my head is uncomfortable.) There I was, in the back of the truck, lights and sirens, bouncing down the road. My belly started to tell me I shouldn't be there, started to gurgle. We pulled up to the house and piled out of the truck. Turns out the owner had seen smoke coming from a baseboard heater and hit it with an extinguisher. That was the extent of it. But we did our thing, searching for fire extension, making sure everything was safe. I stuck mostly to fetching things from the truck, trying to keep my helmet off as much as possible. Soon enough we were bouncing back to the station, my belly complaining again.

Station 3 is a quiet station, covering the West Ferris neighbourhood of North Bay. But it wasn't quiet yesterday morning. No sooner than we returned, we were off again, to a car-vs.-pedestrian at a nearby mall. Bouncing down the road, this time trying to weave my arms into a florescent vest. Thankfully (for me) the pedestrian was fine and being tended to by paramedics. Soon enough, we were bouncing back to the station....

I hadn't yet taken any of my anti-nauseants this round of chemo. I needed one now.

Soon we were off again, this time to Station 1 for George's retirement party. (Bouncing down the road....) It was good seeing everyone there, shaking George's hand. There was food, but I just picked at some beef and vegetables. Now, with us at Station 1, we were covering the busy part of the city. Wouldn't you know it, we got a call for a pot-on-stove fire. Thankfully, Pump 2 got there ahead of us, and thankfully the owner had it put out upon our arrival. But it was more bouncing down the road....

The afternoon was quiet. I crashed out on a lazy-boy and watched football. At 5:00, I left work and headed to the grocery store. I'd been warned that a side effect of chemo is a very finicky appetite, and I knew I didn't want to eat anything that we had at home. I must've spent 15 minutes circling the seafood before I finally descended on bacon-wrapped scallops. I don't usually eat bacon. When I was half way home, Anna called and reminded me that we had a dinner date with Heidi. I'd totally forgotten, and now we were very late. But Heidi didn't mind, bless her, she took us in and warmed up the turkey and root vegetables. We spent some time chatting with her and her other dinner guests, Sherry and Shanna, before heading home and collapsing straight into bed. I slept for 11 hours and only got up twice to pee. It was a good way to end a long day.